


Steven Universe, Hufflepuff Midnight Wanderer

by jamwrites



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Crystal Gems, F/M, Gen, Hogwarts, Hufflepuff Common Room, Ravenclaw, Steven Universe AU, The Marauder's Map
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 06:48:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4736597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamwrites/pseuds/jamwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a Steven Universe Hogwarts AU, Steven searches a familiar Map for a long lost family member, but not without help from a certain Ravenclaw friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steven Universe, Hufflepuff Midnight Wanderer

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably say that this is a test run of sorts for a larger, multi-chapter Steven Universe Hogwarts AU fic, so the problem raised isn't going to be solved/spoiled in this standalone. I'll save that for the larger fic to come!

Sweat trickled down Steven's forehead.

He had thought maybe it was from the many fires burning in the Hufflepuff Basement, but he was used to those by now. It was the Map that was giving him trouble; he had been staring at it for hours in the unsteady light, and despite searching in every possible place, he still couldn't find her name.

With a sigh, Steven tapped the crinkled parchment with his wand and muttered " _mischief managed_ ", which was a lie. The Map believed him however, and dutifully folded itself up, ink disappearing as it worked. Within a few moments, the Map was just an ordinary, if a bit grubby, bit of paper once again. He had a Potions exam in the morning and if he didn't get to sleep soon, he wouldn't have a hope in the world of passing.

Steven glanced around the room. The fires in the hearths were burning low now, their orange and blue light dancing off the copper decorations hung on the brick walls. The multitudes of overstuffed armchairs and couches were deserted; everyone else had gone off to bed long ago. He didn't even know what time it was, but judging from the nighttime scene the enchanted windows were showing, it was either very late or very, very early.

He skipped changing and brushing his teeth and instead, he trudged down the stairs into the boys dormitories and sunk into his bed.

Why couldn't he find her on the map? He had been so sure...or maybe just desperate. When Sour Cream and Buck had given him the Map earlier that week, he knew it had been a sign. Nobody could find his mother because nobody was looking in the right place.

But hours of studying the faded ink had given him nothing except unwanted knowledge of Professor Dewey's frequent midnight lavatory visits. Try as he might, the Map either wasn't telling him something, or didn't have anything to tell.

The massive grandfather clocked chimed out another ungodly hour of the night, and Steven turned over in his blankets to stare at the ceiling. The stained cherry wood boards were low, close enough that he could make out the dark lines running like rivers among the wood. Every once in a while the rivers would part for a knot, flowing around it and resuming their course shortly after.

 _Go to sleep_ , he told himself. He considered charming his bed, but that was no good. He had no idea how sleeping charms worked; what if he cast it wrong and never woke up?

The grandfather clock's ticking seemed as loud as a stampede.  _Tick, tock…tick, tock_ …almost like it was talking to him.  _Find, her…find, her…_

It was more than he could stand. Cursing to himself, Steven swung his legs out of bed and forced the rest of his body to follow. He grabbed his wand and snatched the Map off of his bedside stand, shoving it into the deep pocket of his robes. He crept back through the Basement, fires now gone out, and went on hands and knees through the exit passageway.

He emerged into the kitchen corridors, eerily quiet this time of night. The sconces on the walls were empty, devoid of fire or warmth.

" _Lumos._ " A tiny white ball of light bloomed on the tip of his wand, and Steven set off down the corridor. His destination wasn't far, but all the same he opted to take one of the Map's secret passageways to avoid bumping into a ghost or, heavens forbid, a teacher. If he was caught out of bed this time of night, he might have to make a journey through the Forbidden Forest with Yellowtail. Again.

Steven kept close to the walls after the passage, keeping his wand partially tucked under his robes to avoid waking up the paintings. He had only been at Hogwarts for less than a year, but all the same he had found that he had a knack for breaking its rules. He attributed that to Connie, mostly, but all the same, here he was. Up several flights of moving staircases. Though a narrow hall, ducking into a classroom to avoid Nearly Headless Lil' Butler. He knew the way, but all the same kept the Map close.

He had hoped that the eagle knocker would be sleeping, but he had no such luck. The guardian to the Ravenclaw Common Room opened one eye at his approach and yawned. In way of greeting, it clicked its beak and began its riddle.

"How can fire burn wood and help it grow?"

Steven opened his mouth, thought for a second, and closed it again. He closed his eyes and thought back to Herbology class. How on earth could fire help wood grow? He tapped his foot. Pinched the bridge of his nose. His mind was going blank, he had nothing.

"I don't know!" He whisper-shouted. "Can you please just let me in?"

"How can fire burn wood and help it grow?" The eagle stared at him. Steven suddenly felt very tired. What was he doing all the way up here? This was stupid, stupid stupid, and he was going to get caught. He sighed and turned to head back down the winding stairs.

"Steven?" He felt a hand on his shoulder and when he turned, he saw Connie rubbing her eyes, the door swinging shut behind her. "The eagle said there was someone outside. What are you doing here?"

"Connie!" Steven grinned in spite of himself. "I'm sorry, I know it's late, but I just really need you help with something."

"Right now?" Connie yawned.

"Right now. It's important, I promise."

She looked at him, and whatever she found in his face must have made sense to her, because she nodded and turned back to the eagle.

"Some types of pinecones and mandrake plants need extreme heat in order to drop their seeds." The eagle nodded, and the door creaked open.

The Ravenclaw Common Room was almost the exact opposite of Hufflepuff's, but Steven had been up here enough times to almost be used to the large, airy room. A single candle burned at the central oak table, a massive book opened up next to it.

"Were you awake?" Steven asked, pulling out a chair.

"Kind of." Connie sat next to him and closed the book with a  _thud_. "I think I fell asleep studying." She moved the candle aside so she was staring right at him. Her hair fell across the shoulders of her night gown, and despite it the hour, her eyes were already alive and dancing with excitement. "So, what do we have?"

"This." Steven fished the Map from his pocket and started to slide it across the table to Connie, but she was already scooting her chair so she was right next to him, touching shoulders. She bent over the Map, frowning.  
"Steven, this is just a-"

"I know, but just wait a second.  _Nox_." His light extinguished, Steven cleared his throat and tapped the Map with the point of his short wand. " _I solemnly swear I am up to no good_."

The Map burst to life before the words were even out of his mouth. Ink spilled across the page like someone had dropped it in water, flowing through the paper and arranging itself into the walls of the castle even as it unfolded itself. Steven heard Connie's sharp intake of breath as the magic worked. The last thing to appear was a short paragraph on a red, splotchy background.

" _Mses Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers are proud to present The Crystal Gems' Map_ …Steven, what is this?"

"It's a map," he said lamely, and then added, "it's magical. Obviously. I mean, it shows where people are in the castle, and it tells you who they are and…" he trailed off when he saw that Connie was no longer listening, but instead had been sucked in by the Map. She was bent over it like she would be with a good book, glasses sliding down the bridge of her nose, eyes darting across the parchment. Almost half a minute passed without either of them speaking; Connie reading the map, Steven watching her. He couldn't help but notice how pretty she looked, candlelight spilling across her face and hair all tangled up from sleep. There was even a red imprint fading on her cheek from where she had slept on her arm.

"This is amazing," Connie breathed. "This is powerful magic, Steven. Extremely powerful and extremely, extremely complicated. You do realize that Hogwarts is unplottable, like, Azkaban-level-unplottable, right? This shouldn't even be possible." She looked at him over the top of her glasses. "Did you make it?"

"No! No, I mean…no." He swallowed and scratched a non-existent itch on the back of his neck. "It was given to me. It showed me how to get to Hogsmead when Dad forgot to sign off on my forms. I was going to show you earlier, but there was never time and I didn't know how to tell you. About it."

"So why tell me now? Besides the fact that it's freaking amazing and you should have showed me the first instant you got it."

He froze. It was like he was in front of the door eagle again. What if Connie didn't understand? Which was a stupid thought because she understood everything, they shared everything, but even so…he hadn't told anyone about his mom, and all of a sudden, his theory seemed childish.

"Steven?" Connie touched his arm, just like she had touched his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I was looking for my mom." He squeezed his eyes shut. "I told you how she disappeared when I was younger and nobody could find her. How they still can't find her." He bit his lip. "I think…I think she isn't dead or gone or passed on or whatever they all say to me. I think everyone just gave up because looking was too hard, and they didn't look in the right place and Hogwarts is the right place." He opened his eyes because he could feel tears building, the same way they always did when he thought about her, which was stupid because he had never even known her, but he loved her, he loved the  _idea_  of her. "And I think she's  _here_ , Connie, at Hogwarts. I don't know why and and I don't know how, but I can feel it, I think I always have and now I have the Map and it must be a sign, I'm being told I have to look for her. I can find her! I know I can."

He ran out of words, breathing a little harder than normal. Connie was looking at him, her face betraying no hint of what she was thinking on the inside. Steven felt himself collapsing. She thought he was crazy. The best friend he had made in his first year, and she thought he was absolutely insane. This was worse, ten times worse than not being able to sleep in the dormitory.

"Connie-"

"We're going to find her."

He stopped. What? What was she saying? Her eyes were tearing up now too, her mouth set in a hard line that Steven was coming to recognize as her determination. Once Connie's mouth tightened up, whatever it was she was doing was going to be done, no matter what.

"We're going to find her, Steven. If you say she's here, then she's here." Connie took a breath. "Listen, we haven't known each other for that long, but I…I trust you. And I don't know everything that happened to you when you were younger, but I know it's important to you, so it's important to me, too. I'm going to help you, whether you want me to or not."

It was like someone had opened up a window, letting in a breeze of cool fresh air. Steven could feel the smile spreading across his face, and before he knew what was happening his arms were wrapped around Connie and she was hugging him back, and they were both crying and for some insane, inexplicable reason, laughing.

"I want you to help," he said into her hair. "thank you."

And for the briefest of moments, it all felt a little easier. Easier to not worry about the rose-shaped scar on his belly button, easier to forgive his dad for forgetting to be his dad sometimes, easier to withstand the looming thoughts of the Dark Lord Yellow Diamond, gathering her strength out there in the world.

This time when he fell into his bed, sleep hit him like a moving train. He dreamed about the first time he had met Connie, when she had asked to sit next to him on the Hogwarts Express. How they had of course talked how it was his famous mother who supposedly gave herself up to defeat the Dark Lord and protect Steven, but mostly what classes they had and what their teachers were going to be like. They had been excited on that first day. They were going to be wizard and witch. They were going to be magical.

Steven fell asleep with a smile on his face, the Map still tucked into his pocket. He thought he woke up in the middle of the night and checked the map, only to have the name "Rose Quartz-Universe" over his footprints where his own name should have been. In the morning, however, that seemed like a dream too, and of course "Steven Universe" was the only name above his inky black feet.

He was exhausted for the Potions exam, of course, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to care. His rose scar was tingling. He knew his mother was in Hogwarts, could practically feel her there. And he also had a feeling that whoever they had been, the Crystal Gems had something to do with his mother too.

"It's kind of exciting, isn't it?" Connie had said to him as he had left the Ravenclaw tower the night before. "Like an adventure, but more than that. Like the beginning of a story."

He couldn't help but agree.


End file.
